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Public safety in Fields Corner

With the rising rents in South Boston, I'm thinking about moving to Dorchester. I realize that Dorchester is very big and that some parts are safe while other parts are less safe. What is the crime situation in Fields Corner, particularly around Geneva Street between Park Street and Bowdoin Street? I'm thinking about renting an apartment on Westville Street near Up Academy (John Marshall Elementary School). I've heard mixed things. Would it be safe to walk from the Fields Corner T station to the elementary school at night?

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Lemonade, I respect your question but I dont think this is the proper forum.

Please dont let this turn into a r/boston-esque "what can i do/where do I live/is this area safe?" type question and response.

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If the site gets overrun with traffic requesting local advice maybe that's an issue (for Adam) but if someone wants to ask about Roslindale or Medford, would you have the same reaction?

If this devolves into yuppie bashing and gentrification talk, then maybe you have a point...

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Adam should charge $X to ask a question here, where X=? Maybe I should ask everyone.

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In the spirit of haystack he can charge a fee to replace an existing post with your post.

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There is a box that says Google Custom Search.

Type in Fields Corner and hit search.

Everything you need to know about safety is right there.

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Was thinking the same thing. Bait?
You have your occasional stabbing, shooting, but people use the station daily without harm.

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I am not going to say it is not safe, but I think you have to set the expectation right. Fields corner isn't some war zone, but, like many places in Boston, there are people who don't want you there if you aren't from there. You might move there and nothing bad ever happens, but there is a significant amount of crime that occurs near the locations you mentioned.

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'like many places in Boston, there are people who don't want you there if you aren't from there'.

What nonsense. Are you saying this schoolteacher is going to wake up to an angry mob ready to chase him/her out of town? You could just as easily say this about Wellesley.

My experience has been that in a big city, neighbors come and go without many people even taking notice.

As for safety, I will say any area in any city requires one to be aware of one's surroundings, especially if you are walking alone at night. I would check any crime stats the city has on file and act accordingly.

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i did not mean that boston is the only place that occurs....this isnt some casey affleck movie...i just believe that a small minority of people anywhere you go will not like a newcomer. i have not seen any angry mobs anywhere in boston because someone moves into a neighborhood, and i made no reference to that occuring. i definitely agree with you that in a city most people do not notice or talk to the people around them. hope that clears the air.

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Everything is great, if you are a 240 pound mixed martial artist with a FID Card. As someone who grew up in Dot, you may want to take on a second job to pay for your South Boston digs before making the leap. However, life is short and delirious, you could make the move and your life has an even better chance of being even more short and delirious.

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Anecdotal, but my family has only been on the receiving end of homophobic and racist comments in South Boston, West Roxbury, and some of the suburbs. We've felt completely safe in Dorchester and every other part of the city. I definitely wouldn't recommend South Boston over Dorchester.

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hi. couple points:

a) the main uhub page says there are four comments to the original post, but i can only see two when i click the link. whatever that means, or for whatever that's worth, that is the case.

b) i worked at dorchester court for several years. the area bounded by park street, geneva ave, bowdoin street, and washingtons street is one of the lowest ranked "places to live" on my personal list at the moment.

c) it's a tough call because there are lots of great people that live in that area and neighborhood, but collectively, and with respect to the rest of the entire city, that particular area has greater potential at the moment than realized potential (in my personal opinion). there are several really nice, affordable places, with excellent neighbors - but, the risk factor is, again in my opinion, significantly higher there than in almost any localized region in the city.

d) fields corner, seems to me, is kind of a lesser publicized part of town - if you're not familiar with the neighborhood at all, why pick that spot as opposed to mattapan, roxbury, west roxbury, allston, brighton, south boston, charlestown, back bay, or cambridge, somerville, chelsea, winthrop, revere, or elswhere?

e) collectively, boston is awesome. all of boston's neighborhoods have something to offer. fields corner has some good spots - it's just that, on a relative scale and from this particular writer's perspective, if one it not familiar with the city, there are potentially lower-crime areas (to address the specific question).

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great restaurants, great neighborhood, out of control in the afternoon when up to a thousand school kids run wild for about an hour

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Disagree. And I live nearby. Find someplace that is safer.

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Lemonade, I grew up in Fields Corner in the early 90's and can say that the safety of the neighborhood - real and perceived - has markedly improved since then. I have several good friends who live within a ten minute walk radius of the station that I visit regularly at all hours. I take late night strolls in the area and occasionally catch the bus on Geneva and Bowdoin at 3:30AM (yes, bus service is available that early!) without incident. I assume you don't have insomnia, so it is unlikely you'll be out that late.

My advice:

- Come to rational conclusions and make choices based on facts. Want crime stats on the neighborhood? Curious what types of crime have/do occur? Frequency of crimes? Any trends? The local BPD district is C-11. Give them a call at (617) 343-4330 and request some data. The stats are public record and surely data from the past two years would be readily available.

- Talk to friends who visit the neighborhood regularly. Moreover, talk to folks you know who live/have lived in the area. What's their take?

- There is little to no pedestrian activity on Geneva Avenue, Bowdoin Street, or Dorchester Avenue after a certain time of night. The same could be said of Copley Square, West Newton Street, or Allston, however. Are you comfortable being the only person strolling down the street?

- Several gangs operate in the area. Again, C-11 would have the best data on how ostentatious and frequent their outbursts of shitbaggery are.

- DISCLAIMER: I'm a 6' 1'' guy and it is not uncommon for people to see me strolling about late at night and cross the street. (Guess some folks assume I have something other than some Tolstoy in my pocket...) My experiences are relative and may not reflect your own.

Hope this is helpful and that the trolls remain under the Mass Ave Bridge.

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if you are waiting for the first 15 at Kane Sq. at 3:30 in the morning, DO NOT scream the names of your favorite Pokemon for all of the neighbors to hear. Don't be that guy. And don't stand next to that guy.

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I lived south of Fields Corner (near the Shawmut station) for a year. That area was okay and I never got hassled.

Geneva Ave, however, scared the hell out of my housemates, who had been there a lot longer than me. From what I saw of it I tend to agree. Very desolate.

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Gonna need to start a Keep Dorchester Scary campaign to keep my rent down, now.

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A campaign to keep the junkies and muggers out of Dorchester would be even better.

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Geneva Bowdin is a high crime area, no getting around that, but there are some caveats. Most of the violence around Fields Corner is personal, especially among the CV teens. Are you comfortable walking through rowdy crowds of teenagers smoking weed to get into the station? The business district during the day is fine, great Vietnamese food, but the streets at night would make me wary. I worked there for two years without incident, but the sheer number of shootings is tragic and disturbing.

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Lemon
I have lived a few minutes walk south of the F.C. T station for 35 years. There a lot to love about the area but a lot of crime to be concerned about too. I personally would not walk from the station to Westville at night, although the time of night is an important detail.
Check out a map of the crime stats, using crimereports.com or a number of other websites. In the walk from the T to the school, there has been a robbery and 6 assaults in the last 90 days.
I agree with one of the commenters that the most dangerous time of day is around 3-5 after the kids get out of school and many of them are looking for trouble. There are also gangs, guns, and drugs in the area.
But more importantly, I think, check it out yourself, day and night, and see how it feels for you.

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I'm really not familiar with the Red Line south of JFK, but your question reminds me of my having fallen in love with a cute mother in law apartment on Eagle Hill, East Boston, in the early 90s.

Was asking everyone what they knew of Eastie (particularly the Maverick T Stop and the 10 minute walk to the new place - just across the street from the former library branch).

Everyone was saying, "Better buy a gun," "Better Learn Spanish," and the like. As I'm a Big Blonde built like the figurehead of a ship, my potential landlord just said to me, "Why not try walking here a couple times from the T stop at different times of the day. My last tenant told me that she was harassed a lot, so I don't want you getting into a contract that you might need to break."

Long story short: I didn't buy a gun, but I did become proficient in Spanish. Far from being Harassed for being a Big Blonde, I found myself being protected by neighbors. Lived there for seven years before being priced out.

***

Short take: Take the crime reports into account. Also, just try walking around the neighborhood a bit, if you can. You might be surprised at what you find (both good and bad). Best of Luck.

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We've lived up by Ronan Park last eight years, no incidents. I had more trouble in Cambridge than here.

Yes crime happens but mostly it is very targeted, I.e. gangs and drugs. If you dont run with either crowd chances are good you'll be left alone.

I see the hood improving, we're staying.

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I live in Dorchester, and I love it. I walk home from Field's Corner at night but not in this direction. My memories of Westville consist of a car accident at Westville and Geneva (that intersection has no visibility). I also remember a pretty active crack house across from the Marshall. The grocery store nearby is America's Food Basket.

But there are a lot of apartments in Dorchester, keep looking. Just a couple streets south of there has some of my favorite houses in Dorchester.

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My hairdresser and his wife had a three-decker in the area between Savin Hill and Fields Corner. They bought it about 25 years ago, when the neighborhood was a lot rougher (according to him.) When they had a family, they wanted more space than just an apartment (and they felt BPS wasn't where they wanted their kids to be,) the decided to move out to the burbs. They kept the house in Fields Corner, and rented it out for many years (they only recently sold it, because they wanted the equity, and he said that they didn't want to put the money into it to make it the right place for him and his wife.) From what my hairdresser said, the quality of tenant he could get increased exponentially over the years that he owned the house, and he said that he didn't understand why more people aren't moving down there.

So, for what that's worth, my hairdresser thinks the neighborhood is OK. Again, it's probably a matter of block by block, building by building. You could try it, realizing that at the most you'll be in for a year.

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I am a woman living near JFK/Umass who has friends in the Fields Corner area.I frequently walk down Dot Ave near my place after dark, and am comfortable. I do not feel comfortable walking to and from the T Station by myself after dark. With someone else, it feels fine and during the day, I feel fine. My opinion might also change, if I was walking a shorter distance to/from the T. This is based on my own comfort level/feelings and not any objective data, so take it for what its worth. I think calling C-11 is also a good idea.

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Oops, I made a typo. I meant to say, just for comparison, that I frequently walk the section of Dot Ave near JFK/Umass near my place at night and feel fine, but I do not feel fine walking to/from the Fields Corner Station at night, by myself.

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I work at Up Academy, it's a great school but the neighborhood is very sketchy.

A neighbor told one of our teachers yesterday that she shouldn't carry a purse in the area.

I walk to Fields Corner station every day, but I personally wouldn't at night. Lots of partying going and the night guys I've talked to said it's very dangerous around our school.

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Are you referring to the Up Academy on Dorchester St in South Boston? The former Patrick F Gavin? That is no where near Fields Corner.

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There is also an UP Academy located on Westville Street.

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Geneva Ave, not street, Ms./Mr. Lemon

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This question sounds like a plant. Anyone who reads uhub or the globe (or watches the news) would be familiar with the bowdoin geneva neighborhood which is bound by these very same steets.

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I have no first-hand knowledge of that area, but as soon as I read Geneva Ave., Bowdoin St. I thought of the many, many news reports about gang violence in that area. I'm sure many fine people live in the area safely. And, yes, chances are you will never get hit by a stray bullet or be directly involved with the problems, but do you want that stuff going on around where you live? Do you want to even have to think about it when you're walking home? If you can afford to live elsewhere I would. At the very least I would go over there at the times you would be out and about and see how comfortable you are. Different people have different comfort levels.

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worst areas in the city. That stretch of Geneva is about as bad as it gets; however, areas very close by are some of the nicest in all of Dot. The stretch of Melville Ave. between Dorchester Ave to Washington Street is wonderful, and many of the cross street between Melville and Park are equally as nice.

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Frequency of shootings, courtesy of Welcome to Dot (@welcometodot on twitter):

http://welcometodot.cartodb.com/viz/e9c0b1d4-2938-11e4-8874-0e10bcd91c2b...

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I lived at One Arcadia Street for a year (moved cuz my girlfriend didn't want to live there) and I really enjoyed it. Didn't do a whole lot of walking around at night, but like anywhere if you are friendly with your neighbors and you make a commitment to be a part of the neighborhood instead of just an interloper you should be fine. I like the area.

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ive lived in that area for 25 years, then moved and worked there for another 25 years ,im on call at night and in the day,go away for now...let them shoot it out and we will come back when the dust settles. its too flippin dangerous for decent people.they shoot at cops down there. don't go there. I recommend murphy school area or saint anns parish , much better and pretty close to the T

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I was curious one night when I was walking home in a bad area so my idea was to simply dress like someone I'd be afraid of. I had a hoodie I use for biking with an oversized hood to accommodate for helmet space so I pulled it up and over my head and got my strut on. Felt completely safe. I don't know why more people don't do this.

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grew up in dorchester all my life and am quite comfortable with my environment regardless of how dangerous or not. but i will be honest in telling u that the specific area u mention is high crime/gang activity. lived on westville for 4 years witnessed multiple shootings, stabbings gang beatdowns. kids from one street war with kids from the next block parallel to theirs. its just should i say one of the more dangerous areas. over the years ive known quite a few people who have been wounded by stray gunfire stemming from situations they had nothing to do with and even 0 knowledge of. just regular innocent bystanders perhaps just walking through the neighborhood or on their way from work or the nearby shopping plaza. id lean more toward savin hill, lower mills, or the ashmont hill area

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It won an award for one of the top 10 neighborhoods to live in in the US in 2014. Look it up.

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